--------------It's natural to be curious about our world, but the scientific method is just one theory about how to best understand it. We live in a democracy, which means we should treat every theory equally. - Steven Colbert, I Am America (and So Can You!)

--------------"Rich is just mad because he thought all titties had fur on them until last week when a shorn transvestite ruined his childhood dreams by jumping out of a spider man cake and man boobing him in the face lips." - Erasmus

i only had Tecate once, but i thought it was foul. What do other people think?

My favorite Mexican restaurant (note: not a chain, Steve) serves it ice cold with salt and lime pulp on the rim of the glass and, while some may consider that heresy(*), I think it tastes great. I will occasionally drink it at home straight up, but again it has to be ice cold. My personal preference for Mexican beers is Indio, but it is not available in the States as far as I can tell.

(*) A former coworker, who is an accomplished homebrewer, called it a white trash margarita. YMMV.

--------------It's natural to be curious about our world, but the scientific method is just one theory about how to best understand it. We live in a democracy, which means we should treat every theory equally. - Steven Colbert, I Am America (and So Can You!)

Chopped cardboard, softened with an industrial chemical and flavored with fatty pork and powdered seasoning, is a main ingredient in batches of steamed buns sold in one Beijing neighborhood, state television said.The report, aired late Wednesday on China Central Television, highlights the country's problems with food safety despite government efforts to improve the situation.Countless small, often illegally run operations exist across China and make money cutting corners by using inexpensive ingredients or unsavory substitutes. They are almost impossible to regulate.State TV's undercover investigation features the shirtless, shorts-clad maker of the buns, called baozi, explaining the contents of the product sold in Beijing's sprawling Chaoyang district.Baozi are a common snack in China, with an outer skin made from wheat or rice flour and and a filling of sliced pork. Cooked by steaming in immense bamboo baskets, they are similar to but usually much bigger than the dumplings found on dim sum menus familiar to many Americans.The hidden camera follows the man, whose face is not shown, into a ramshackle building where steamers are filled with the fluffy white buns, traditionally stuffed with minced pork.The surroundings are filthy, with water puddles and piles of old furniture and cardboard on the ground."What's in the recipe?" the reporter asks. "Six to four," the man says."You mean 60 percent cardboard? What is the other 40 percent?" asks the reporter. "Fatty meat," the man replies.The bun maker and his assistants then give a demonstration on how the product is made.Squares of cardboard picked from the ground are first soaked to a pulp in a plastic basin of caustic soda — a chemical base commonly used in manufacturing paper and soap — then chopped into tiny morsels with a cleaver. Fatty pork and powdered seasoning are stirred in.Soon, steaming servings of the buns appear on the screen. The reporter takes a bite."This baozi filling is kind of tough. Not much taste," he says. "Can other people taste the difference?""Most people can't. It fools the average person," the maker says. "I don't eat them myself."The police eventually showed up and shut down the operation.

The guy must have been Disembowel-Meself-Honorably Dibhala, the Agatean counterpart to Cut-My-Own Throat Dibbler of Ankh-Morpork.

--------------"Following what I just wrote about fitness, you’re taking refuge in what we see in the world." PaV

Better you than me, Bubba. I've done had it with the rain. After the drought last year, I am trying to be thankful that we are getting rain, but it is getting a bit ridiculous. Last year, with the drought, I mowed my lawn 6 times the entire year. This year, I am mowing it every 4 days like clock work.

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I thought I'd try this chicken mole recipe. Served with this IPA (which is delicious, BTW). I'll report back on the chicken/mole recipe after all the critics have weighed in...

That is an odd recipe. Raisins? I've never seen that before. And no peppers? Strange. Our favorite mole recipe is actually on the South Beach Diet. I've tried it with the jarred mole that you can find at Hispanic groceries, but the South Beach is better.

EDIT: Was watching Guy's Big Bite on the Food Network (porn for the over 40 set) and this recipe looks intriguing. Will probably try it next weekend.

--------------It's natural to be curious about our world, but the scientific method is just one theory about how to best understand it. We live in a democracy, which means we should treat every theory equally. - Steven Colbert, I Am America (and So Can You!)

Better you than me, Bubba. I've done had it with the rain. After the drought last year, I am trying to be thankful that we are getting rain, but it is getting a bit ridiculous. Last year, with the drought, I mowed my lawn 6 times the entire year. This year, I am mowing it every 4 days like clock work.

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I thought I'd try this chicken mole recipe. Served with this IPA (which is delicious, BTW). I'll report back on the chicken/mole recipe after all the critics have weighed in...

That is an odd recipe. Raisins? I've never seen that before. And no peppers? Strange. Our favorite mole recipe is actually on the South Beach Diet. I've tried it with the jarred mole that you can find at Hispanic groceries, but the South Beach is better.

EDIT: Was watching Guy's Big Bite on the Food Network (porn for the over 40 set) and this recipe looks intriguing. Will probably try it next weekend.

EDIT: Was watching Guy's Big Bite on the Food Network (porn for the over 40 set) and this recipe looks intriguing. Will probably try it next weekend.

Whoa. That looks great. Any excuse I can find to make ribs I'll take.

So, I broke down and made the ribs tonight. The turned out good, although next time I will probably add dry mustard to the rub and forgo the bottled mustard which made it hard to spread the rub evenly. I would also cut down on the soy sauce and increase the hot sauce.

--------------It's natural to be curious about our world, but the scientific method is just one theory about how to best understand it. We live in a democracy, which means we should treat every theory equally. - Steven Colbert, I Am America (and So Can You!)

EDIT: Was watching Guy's Big Bite on the Food Network (porn for the over 40 set) and this recipe looks intriguing. Will probably try it next weekend.

Whoa. That looks great. Any excuse I can find to make ribs I'll take.

So, I broke down and made the ribs tonight. The turned out good, although next time I will probably add dry mustard to the rub and forgo the bottled mustard which made it hard to spread the rub evenly. I would also cut down on the soy sauce and increase the hot sauce.

That is an odd recipe. Raisins? I've never seen that before. And no peppers? Strange. Our favorite mole recipe is actually on the South Beach Diet. I've tried it with the jarred mole that you can find at Hispanic groceries, but the South Beach is better.

Yeah, I added a serrano pepper to the mix since I was also perplexed by the lack of heat potential in this dish. I'm not looking for the fire-breathing diet that Louis and Steve et al. seem to favor, but Mexican food should have some pepper ingredients!

I can report that it was pretty good, and, like all moles, even better the second day as leftovers. It wasn't the best mole I ever had, but it was far from the worst. Sometime I'll try that South Beach recipe as well, and see how it compares.

--------------Flesh of the sky, child of the sky, the mindHas been obligated from the beginningTo create an ordered universeAs the only possible proof of its own inheritance. - Pattiann Rogers

I can report that it was pretty good, and, like all moles, even better the second day as leftovers. It wasn't the best mole I ever had, but it was far from the worst.

Why are you eating subterranean rodents . . . . ?

Are you here all week, Lenny?

--------------"Rich is just mad because he thought all titties had fur on them until last week when a shorn transvestite ruined his childhood dreams by jumping out of a spider man cake and man boobing him in the face lips." - Erasmus

Clark: [a squirrel is loose in the house] Where is Eddie? He usually eats these goddam things. Cousin Catherine Johnson: Not recently, Clark. He read that squirrels were high in cholesterol.

--------------"Rich is just mad because he thought all titties had fur on them until last week when a shorn transvestite ruined his childhood dreams by jumping out of a spider man cake and man boobing him in the face lips." - Erasmus

Okay, the last time I tried to make a phaal, I didn't like the results. Too tomatoey and I didn't like the diced potatoes.

So I tackled the recipe again, hopefully to get it right this time.

I again worked off this recipe, since it looked simple enough for my rather shaky skill set:

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Mutton Dish (Phaal)Ingredients1. Mutton pieces or Chicken 1/2 kg.2. Bunch of Coriander/Cilantro. More than a handful. Well chopped.3. 4-5 Red Chillies4. 1 tbsp Pepper Powder.5. Ginger-Garlic paste- 1 tbsp6. 2 Onions7. 1 Tomato8. 3-4 Potatoes9. Oil - 2 tbsp10. Salt to tasteMethodFry the onions for a while. Then add ginger-garlic paste and fry a little longer.Make a paste out of Coriander, red chillies, pepper powder, tomato and fried onions (from step 1 ).Take a wok and put in the paste and heat well. Keep stirring until paste thickens and the raw smell disappears.Add some water, mutton or chicken pieces along with potatoes and cook for 20 minutes.If it is mutton you will have to pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. Stir once in a while and add water if you require a little extra gravy.Happy cooking.

I used chicken thighs and not mutton, of course. I used ground coriander (a lot), not cilantro. (I can't abide cilantro.) I used exactly the amount of ginger garlic paste it instructed, but only half a (yellow) onion. I didn't use any potatoes (I prefer rice), and only used about half a cup of crushed tomatoes. For the heat I used one habanero (my other one had gone bad), one jalapeño, a tablespoon of store-bought red chile paste, and a bunch of Mexican chili powder. (I didn't know how hot that would make it so I wanted to start cautious.) I ran the onions and peppers thru a blender beforehand just to avoid the headache of chopping them, tho let me tell you when I finished blending them and opened the lid of the blender, the onion and pepper fumes were quite overwhelming.

Anyway, other than that I pretty much followed the directions: browned the onions and pepper in olive oil, added the ginger/garlic when it asked me to, put in the other ingredients, stirred the resulting paste around with the chicken, then added the water. I also threw in about a teaspoon or so of sea salt. After about half an hour of cooking I noticed the sauce looked a tad watery, so I added a little more olive oil.

Result: it fuckin rawked. Easily the best curry I've ever made from scratch, maybe better than all the ones I've made from store-bought pastes. Cutting WAY down on the tomato and onion was a smart idea, since that meant the spices came way to the front. My wife really liked it, too.

As for the heat, it was nice and hot, and made my scalp sweat, but I think I should have upped the voltage some. The two obvious ways to do this next time would be to use two whole habaneros and no jalapeños, and to use 2-3 tablespoons of the red chili paste, and not just one. Other than that, I really like the way I tweaked the spices, tho maybe doubling the ginger/garlic paste might be nice as well.

--------------"Rich is just mad because he thought all titties had fur on them until last week when a shorn transvestite ruined his childhood dreams by jumping out of a spider man cake and man boobing him in the face lips." - Erasmus

Picked up some Guanciale from the butcher. Will be making something with that this week. If I can find someone with a curing locker I'm going to try making some. WAY to hot and humid down here in SC to do it the traditional way and hang it outside to cure. Might try in our second fridge but the humidity in a fridge can be an issue.

I'm impressed, your Phaal Research is great, I applaud it. However, the fact that you can still walk after one, let alone walk the next day means you have yet to make one. Also, what's this specifying the meat? Meat in a phaal should be mysterious and of potentially dubious origin. You are follwoing the letter of phaal lawbut not yet the spirit. Fight on curry warrior!